021 PCNP 21 E | Original: French | 18 March 2021
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POLITICAL COMMITTEE (PC) Sub-Committee on NATO Partnerships (PCNP) NATO AND THE MEDITERRANEAN SECURITY AGENDA Preliminary Draft Report Sonia KRIMI (France) Rapporteur 021 PCNP 21 E | Original: French | 18 March 2021 Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly acts as a consultative interparliamentary organisation which is institutionally separate from NATO. This working document only represents the views of the Rapporteur until it has been adopted by the Political Committee. It is based on infor- mation from publicly available sources or NATO PA meetings – which are all unclassified. CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 II. THE MEDITERRANEAN SECURITY LANDSCAPE ........................................................... 1 A. LIBYA’S PROLONGED DISMANTLEMENT ............................................................. 1 B. ESCALATING TENSIONS IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN .......................... 3 C. THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN: AN EPICENTRE OF IRREGULAR FLOWS AND THREATS ........................................................................................... 6 D. THE ROLE OF EXTERNAL ACTORS IN THE REGION ........................................... 9 III. THE ROLE OF NATO ALLIES IN PROMOTING STABILITY AND SECURITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN .......................................................................................................... 11 A. OPERATIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND NATO’S MEANS OF DEFENCE AND DETERRENCE ............................................................................. 12 B. THE MEDITERRANEAN DIALOGUE AND OTHER COOPERATION MECHANISMS ....................................................................................................... 14 IV. FINAL REMARKS ............................................................................................................ 16 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 17 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Mediterranean Sea has three strategic entry points, providing access to the Atlantic Ocean, the Red Sea which leads to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and the Black Sea which leads to the Russian world. Thus, the Mediterranean connects all the world’s major political, economic and energy hubs. It is a crucial region not only for external actors such as Russia, China, the Gulf powers and the United States, but also for the countries that surround it, all involved in various ways in more or less elaborate multilateral networks. From the beginning of the 2010s, this region was also marked by a succession of political upheavals, brought to a climax in Syria, Iraq and Libya. These developments gave rise to an unprecedented migratory crisis for Europe and to new international security threats. As a result, the Alliance has become increasingly interested in this space. A discussion forum was set up in the mid-1990s through the Mediterranean Dialogue. Later, the 2010 Strategic Concept took into account the political and military developments on the Alliance’s southern flank. And since then, NATO has made significant progress. Within the Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the Southern Hub was established to boost vigilance and coordinate Allied maritime operations in the region. NATO also cooperates with other organisations there, such as the European Union and the African Union. Yet today, certain differences between Allies hamper NATO’s ability to develop a constant, clear and coherent strategy that would specify its role in tackling challenges and threats from the South. This preliminary draft report first presents the impact of the Mediterranean security landscape on Alliance security through three axes: the two areas under tension; transversal factors and challenges; and the role of external actors. It then assesses the Allies’ role in promoting stability and security in the Mediterranean as part of the essential core tasks. Finally, it makes recommendations to strengthen NATO’s programmes, initiatives and partnerships in the Mediterranean in order to promote regional stability. 021 PCNP 21 E I. INTRODUCTION 1. A sea “in the middle of land”, the Mediterranean has three strategic entry points: the Strait of Gibraltar, controlling access to the Atlantic; the Suez Canal, leading to the Red Sea and then onto the Indian and Pacific Oceans; and the Dardanelles Strait, which gives access to the Black Sea and the Russian world. It connects all the world’s major political, economic and energy players. It is thus a crucial region not only for major external actors such as Russia, China, the Gulf powers and the United States, but also for the countries that surround it, all involved in various ways in more or less elaborate multilateral networks. Moreover, starting in the early 2010s, this area was marked by a succession of political upheavals, which were brought to a climax in Syria, Iraq and Libya. These developments led to an unprecedented migration crisis for Europe and to new international security threats: first with the emergence of the so-called “Islamic State” group, and then with the return of foreign fighters to their countries of origin. 2. As a result, the Alliance has become increasingly interested in this geographic space. A forum for discussion was set up in the mid-1990s through the Mediterranean Dialogue (MD). With an emphasis on terrorism and cooperative security, the 2010 Strategic Concept took into account the political and military developments on the Alliance’s southern flank. The Warsaw Summit in 2016 approved reforms aimed at expanding this approach. Since then, NATO has made significant progress, for example in 2017 with the adoption of the Action Plan against Terrorism and its subsequent update. The Southern Hub was established within Allied Joint Force Command Naples to boost vigilance and coordinate Allied maritime operations in the region. NATO also cooperates with other organisations there, such as the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU). But differences between Allies have arisen in relation to specific security challenges, weakening NATO’s ability to develop a constant, clear and coherent strategy that would specify its role in tackling challenges and threats from the South. 3. This preliminary draft report deals with the instability and conflicts in NATO’s southern neighbourhood which impact the security of the Alliance. It first presents the Mediterranean security landscape through three axes: the two areas under tension; transversal factors and challenges; and the role of external actors. It then assesses the Allies’ role in promoting stability and security in the Mediterranean as part of NATO’s essential core tasks in the areas of collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security. Finally, it makes recommendations to strengthen NATO’s programmes, initiatives and partnerships in the Mediterranean with a view to promoting regional stability through better military preparedness, deeper political engagement and enhanced cooperation. II. THE MEDITERRANEAN SECURITY LANDSCAPE 4. The failure of certain states (Libya and Syria) along with the fragile political and socio-economic contexts in the Mashriq and the Maghreb – magnified in the case of the latter by destabilisation further south – have strongly amplified and interlaced migratory, environmental and criminal problems. In the Mediterranean, steadily growing illicit activities (trafficking in narcotics, arms and human beings, money laundering, hidden investments and oil smuggling) are now combined with instability caused by energy-related challenges and regional power projections. In addition, with the expanding Russian and, to a lesser extent, Chinese influence and an observed decline in US military presence, Europe’s southern flank is now an area potentially open to all forms of conflict. A. LIBYA’S PROLONGED DISMANTLEMENT 5. The civil war into which Libya has sunk since 2011 is a complex web of issues and confrontations. On the political level, the opposition of two legitimate parties has entrenched a conflict between two camps, reinforced by the involvement of external actors. This radical PRELIMINARY DRAFT Report presented by Sonia Krimi (France) for the NATO PA’s Political Committee 1 021 PCNP 21 E dismantlement has a direct influence on the fight against terrorism and the illicit flows of people and goods. However, the recent agreement opens up tentative prospects for a political solution. 6. In 2011, the violent repression of peaceful protests by Muammar Gaddafi’s regime sparked a multinational military intervention under the aegis of the UN, in which NATO took part (Operation Unified Protector). It aimed to enforce an arms embargo and impose a no-fly zone, and precipitated the fall of the regime (NATO, 2015). In 2012, the first attempt at democratic transition led to a parliamentary crisis from which two rival governments emerged (Barthe, 2021). The transitional government in place in 2014 refused to accept the results of that year’s elections, marked by a turnout of only 18%, while the newly elected House of Representatives formed a rival government in Tobruk (Al-Jazeera, 2014). UN-facilitated negotiations in 2015 attempted to reconcile the rival governments with the creation of the Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, the only one recognised by the UN and Allies. However, the Tobruk government continued to contest the GNA’s legitimacy. Most international actors